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Profit margins in the North American adhesives market continue to be squeezed by' rising raw materials prices and the effects of a deep two-year economic recession. While the market has [...]

Improving shareholder return has been a daunting task for many chemical companies this year, but it has been a particularly challenging one for the specialty chemicals company W.R. Grace and [...]

The article focuses on how physics and game theory relate to the card game poker. It is noted that the outcome of poker games can be influenced by skill more than in other gambling games. The article mentions various physicists who play poker, and suggests that the mathematical, probabilistic nature of the game makes it attractive. Game theory can be applied to how people judge probabilities and their opponent's likely actions, which influence a player's own actions.

Focuses on the works of painter Jackson Pollock on fractals in the United States. Criticisms on Pollock; Analysis of the paintings by physicist Richard Taylor; Preference of fractal dimensions by people from survey results. INSET: PARALLEL LINES..

http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/featphysics

Modest, Steady growth is projected for the hydrocolloids market, where the supplier and customer bases face increased consolidation. The hydrocolloids market is enjoying modest but steady growth in food applications, [...]

High natural gas costs trigger widespread industry shutdowns. IN THE LAST few months, ammonia prices have soared due to production curtailment caused by the rise of natural gas prices to [...]

PRICING FOR aluminum sulfate (alum) is once again on the rise as producers seek to recoup losses from skyrocketing energy prices, increased operating expenses and rising raw materials costs. Demand [...]

PRICES FOR HYDROGEN PEROXIDE continue to rise as producers struggle to recoup losses incurred from skyrocketing energy costs. After two years of strong growth as high as 10 percent, fueled [...]

High snowfalls, low temperatures boost demand after several mild winters AFTER A STRING of mild winters and resulting depressed demand, the market for calcium chloride is finally rebounding, with high [...]

But faced with excess capacity, profitability remains elusive. KAOLIN PRODUCERS are battling skyrocketing energy and operational costs, which have dealt a powerful blow to an industry already struggling with an [...]

Diammonium phosphate remains depressed; nitrogen products rebound slightly. DESPITE IDLED capacity, producers of diammonium phosphate remain hard hit by skyrocketing natural gas costs, low export activity and global oversupply, with [...]

THE SODA ASH market is reeling from the impact of record-high costs for natural gas--the primary energy source for soda ash production. With manufacturing costs escalating faster than prices, producers [...]

Demand remains strong, but margins have weakened badly during the past year. PRICING FOR 1,4-butanediol (BDO), which spiraled downward throughout the past year, hit an industry low during the first [...]

Pricing stabilizes for HFC-134a; demand is still strong for CFC substitutes. AFTER FACING sharp price increases and tight supplies last year, the market for HFC-134a has stabilized. Yet demand continues [...]

ONE YEAR AFTER becoming an independent company, Cognis is building its position in the specialty chemicals arena in three key areas: oleochemicals, care chemicals and organic specialties. Cognis was spun [...]

Toluene and xylenes are in short supply and being pressured by the fuel market. BECAUSE OF a sharp increase in oil and gas costs during the last six weeks, benzene [...]

A WIDELY FEARED shortage of clove leaf oil from Madagascar could turn out to be just 'a tempest in a teapot,' according to a leading broker in the flavors and [...]

Global glycol demand continues to grow, and producers are adding capacity. PRICES FOR ethylene oxide (EO) and its primary derivative, monoethylene glycol (MEG), are climbing, fueled by rising feedstock costs, [...]

BP Amoco Posts Record-Breaking Performance a Year After Merger PETROCHEMICALS GIANT BP Amoco has made great strides toward its goal of becoming a truly global company. Its first quarter 2000 [...]

PRICES FOR peppermint oil are expected to level off after their increases during the first quarter, with little or no activity expected in either direction. Demand is also expected to [...]

Producers are striving to raise prices to offset high raw material costs. DURING THE FIRST HALF of 2000, producers of propylene oxide and propylene glycol had little success in pushing [...]

DRAGOCO'S RECENT completion of a renovation and expansion of its plant in Holzminden, Germany, is the latest in a long series of investments aimed at maintaining the company's strategic leadership [...]

Prices are being forced up by oil costs although derivatives are suffering. PROPYLENE PRICES continue to rise sharply, with hefty additional increases on the table for May, due in large [...]

ONE YEAR AFTER garnering major headlines with its acquisition of Morton International, Rohm and Haas is well on its way to achieving targeted goals for improving its operating efficiencies and [...]

PRICING FOR vanilla has increased steadily in recent months, according to a major broker of vanilla beans, and the situation is likely to worsen in the wake of severe flooding [...]

High feedstock costs and tight inventories are expected to keep pricing firm. COMING OUT of a volatile first quarter, ethylene pricing will remain flat for May after rising steadily throughout [...]

ENCOURAGED BY STRONG, stable growth rates for synthetic vanillin, Rhodia, already the leading manufacturer of vanillin and ethyl vanillin, is expanding its global presence by inaugurating a new guaiacol manufacturing [...]

DISCOVERING NEW materials for personal care products is the driving force behind Presperse, an international distributor of specialty raw materials to the cosmetics industry. Since its founding 20 years ago, [...]

Rising raw material costs force price increases but do not dampen enthusiasm. PRICING FOR maleic anhydride continues to rise because of escalating raw material costs. Nevertheless, demand remains strong, bolstered [...]

THE FLAVORS AND FRAGRANCES industry is off to a modest start in 2000. Leading F&F companies have posted mixed fiscal results for the first quarter. Several firms had modest gains, [...]

Producers schedule a round of capacity increases as global demand surges. MAJOR MANUFACTURERS of acrylic acid and related esters are bullish on the market, as shown by a flurry of [...]

LINALOOL, like geraniol, is normally a very stable product that follows broad economic trends, but its pricing has softened for the past 18 months, primarily because of weakening prices for [...]

PRICING FOR geraniol, normally a very stable product that closely follows broad economic trends, has been declining steady for the past 18 months, driven primarily by the plummeting price of [...]

THE FLEDGLING Agilent Technologies, created last fall as a spinoff from the Hewlett-Packard Company as part of a corporate realignment, is successfully making the transition to a global technology company [...]

PRICES IN THE often volatile menthol market continue to decline after spiking sharply last fall. Several brokers anticipated a rebound in the first quarter of 2000, but to date, that [...]